From 1984 to 1988, Zhou Jinqiu studied at the School of Biology, Nanjing University, and received his bachelor's degree. From 1992 to 1997, he studied at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, and received his Ph.D. degree. From 1998 to 2001, he received postdoctoral training in the Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, USA. In September 2001, he joined the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, CAS as a research fellow and doctoral supervisor. From February 2002 to January 2007, he served as the leader of the Young Scientist Group under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for the Advancement of Science.